Cambiadors
by tj-is-lazy
Summary: On Hiatus. Cambiadors are a hunted race. After the names of all the Cambiadors in Lithia are released, Roxas is on the run.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first story. I hope you like it. Please review.

Disclaimer on my profile.

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I have a secret. They can't know, or else I will be exiled. They are the evil ones. Not me and my kind; we are not evil. Others have already been killed. My friend, Sophie, was caught and exiled. They tell the people for our city they are exiled, banned from Lithia. But I know the truth. We aren't banned, or exiled. They kill my kind. We are the hunted.

I am Roxas. I am one of the "vessels" as they call us. Vessels to the Evil One. All the years of history and no one can prove there was ever an Evil One. We call ourselves Cambiadors. Cambiador was the original; he had no name for his species for he was the only one. No one knows for sure how he came to be because it was in the beginning of time. He was the first and the last because from him we all were created. He still lives in us, giving us are animalistic instincts and our ability to having changings. He was "exiled" when Xemnas came into power. He is the king of Lithia. He rules everyone here and if you don't carry out his laws, you will be exiled. Cambiadors cannot die from "old age" and they do not get sick like humans, which cancer or such. They live normally and can only be killed by natural death, loss of blood, suffocation, drowning, burning, etc. Xemnas knew this and he used his knowledge to kill us and to experiment on us. I have been in hiding for a while now. Cambiador activity has been up; the moons are aligning with each other. This is when most changings occur. Most can't help it. They don't know their changings and how to control them. I have been in changing for a long enough time to be able to control my changes. But, the younger ones, can't.

Axel is one who doesn't know the full control over his changings. It scares me when I come to my living space (for I will never call this once great city of Lithia my home again) and he isn't here. I fear for him, for he is young and doesn't know everything there is to know. He is my lover. Cambiadors only mate with one person their whole life. We are bound by a sacred love. I fear every moment Axel is not with me. Xemnas doesn't suspect us to be vessels. If he did, we wouldn't be alive. He kills mercilessly and in large amounts. He keeps it secret because he doesn't want the people to revolt against him. And they would, if they were knowledgeable about what was going on. We, the Cambiados, have tried to tell the city's people about it, but there are spies all around. The spies have exiled many.

But the worst they can do, Xemnas and his spies, the absolute worst the experiments. Xemnas has set up this laboratory in the city hall. He was set it up because he wants to study us and destroy all of us. Like a plague on only us. He thinks we are defective things not worth living or taking up his place. If only they knew, I wish I could tell, but I can't. I would welcome death but they would not give me that. Oh no. They would send me to the Inferno. That is what they call their laboratory. They do experiments. Evil ones. I heard from a Cambiador named Riku that once escaped only because they thought he was dead. He said they ripped him open, alive and fully aware; just to see if there was a parasite or anything different in him. There wasn't. Normal human insides, except we aren't normal. Or human. Riku said that they forced him change by injecting him with stress hormones. They just made him change so they could compare him to a regular tiger, for that is what he changed into. He didn't change right away, fighting the drugs. But they tortured him and keep giving him hormone shots until he was too weak so resist the changing. And again they tore him open to find something wrong. They discarded him in a pile of garbage when they couldn't find anything abnormal, figuring he would die. But being a Cambiador made him heal tenfold what a human would and when and once he was healed enough, he ran and told his story to all Cambiadors he could find. All we do now is live in fear.

I am a wolf, or more like that is my change. I have also mastered tri-changings. I can be a wolf, snake, or a housecat. There is not a lot that can do this, but I am one of the older ones. Wolf was my original. Getting another changing is hard and painful. You never know if the body will accept it. It is kind of like an organ transplant, except we are putting each others changings into each other, and if the body rejects the changing, you are dead. The older you are, the more likely your body will accept the new changing.

I am in my living space. Axel is not here. I always am scared for him. He was been gone awhile. Every sound is magnified and I can hear everything; the neighbors across the street, the earth below me, and the airplane above me. Lithia is surrounded on three sides by other cities, much like ours. On the third, there is a desert. There is no end. No one who goes to it comes back, except for the spies. The spies don't go in far, just enough to chase Cambiados into their death. Many Cambiados have run into it, fleeing Xemnas and his evil rule. I have never seen them. This fills me with deep sadness, for my mother and sister have gone into it. Axel is the only one left that I know. Well, I know most of them, but Axel is my family, my mate. My family has long since passed. Nothing to me is like family, nothing I keep so near and dear to me. Family is precious. I hear the tumblers in the door turn and the door open, so quiet a human couldn't be able to hear it. But I hear it.

"Hey." Axel says as me walking into the living room, passing into the kitchen to set a few grocery bags on the counter. He then walks back into the living room and sits on the couch, turning on the TV. I just stare at him. When he glances at me, he smiles a little. "Chill out, I was just getting some groceries."

"Why?" I asked. It is dangerous being out there, with all those spies.

"Because you refuse to keep food in the house." He says. How could he say that? Spies where everywhere. If I have to live on powdered milk and canned goods for weeks on end when it wasn't safe enough to go out, then so be it. Axel didn't understand this. He is just a foolish child.

"You know that the spi-"I started to say, but he wasn't even listening. So, I walked over to him and slapped him.

"What the heck?" He said, bewildered.

"You risk us being found every time you step out of this place!" I all but screamed at him.

"And you risk us being found when you never leave this place." He said, getting angry. We argued a lot about this. "You don't think that they don't notice the lack of activity in this house? Humans are social creatures and if we want to pass like as human we have to go out once in a while!"

"You are so irrational and dumb!" I yelled.

Rolling his eyes, he stood up. He was about seven inches taller than my average 5'5". This ruined the affect of me being in control. He was kind of imitating, with his flaming red hair making him appear taller. He grabbed my arms and shook me, quite hard. After that, I just stood there baffled and angry. I keep opening my mouth to say something but just couldn't find the words. He just sat down and watched the TV, smirking. I hated letting him win our arguments but I had better things to do than to talk to him like this, which is the equivalent as talking to a wall. That is, if walls shook you. I walked away, mumbling about how childish he was, into the kitchen to make dinner. I could hear him laughing at me. That just had my temper rocket even higher. The only thing about being angry with him is that he is my mate. I love him uncontrollable so the angry slowly ebbs away.

About half way through making dinner, there was a knock at the door. We never had company and when we did, it wasn't good. I slide the butcher knife from the wood block and hid a knife in the back jean pocket. I walked slowly to the door. I could hear Axel behind me.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Roxas let me in." said a familiar voice.

I opened the door and there was a Cambiador named Namine standing on the door stop, looking around nervously. I look a step back, letting her in. I closed and locked the door then turned to her.

"What?" I said. Namine didn't just make house visits for nothing

"Xemnas. He...umm…he got…he has…Kairi." She was crying. Kairi was her sister.

"I'm sorry Namine-" I started to say.

"There's more. He did…didn't ki-…he made her…he-" She was crying so hard, you could barely make out the words.

"Just sit down, and then tell us a little later." Axel said.

"No. He made her tell him who we are." She said in a rush to try to get it out before she started crying again. "He's coming to kill us now." She started crying so hard she sank to her knees.

Knowing that someone was coming to kill me and my mate scared me to the bone. I felt my knees get weak. All I could think about was how I didn't want to die and how I needed to get Axel and me out of here before Xemnas got here.

"We got to go." Axel says.

There was a knock at the door. This time I wasn't going to answer it.

"Roxas? You home?" It was Xemnas. His voice made me sick.

Fear gripped my heart. My wolf instinct took over and suddenly I was running full speed out the back door, and not stopping. I ran out the door into the back yard. I jumped the wooden fence without breaking stride. I could hear someone behind me, and I hoped it was Axel but I couldn't look back without slowing my run. I also heard someone yell 'get them'. I pushed myself faster. I was on the street heading south. I heard a car squealing onto the road. I ran into an alley. A sudden blur of red came up on my left. Axel. I couldn't spare but a quick glance at him before focusing my attention back on running.

"Keep going. Don't worry about me. I'll find you. I swear if it's the last thing I do. I'll find you." Axel said. I didn't have time for his words to sink in before he was out of my sight again, turning down a side street, the opposite way I was running. My heart flip flopped when his words sunk in. My legs slowed for a second. All of a sudden there were shouts and some blood curdling screaming. I couldn't tell from whom other than it wasn't Axel. I pasted a house with a 'beware of dog' sign. There was only one of these signs in the area I lived in, and that was about 2 miles away from my house. I hadn't realized I ran that far already. The dog came out as I pasted and started to bark. About ten seconds later the barking was cut off with the sound of a gunshot. They weren't taking any chances. I could feel the tears start to well up in my eyes. I couldn't out run bullets. I hoped Axel somehow made it away from them. I ran on, cutting through another alleyway. I jumped the chain fence and headed to the end of the city.

As I got farther away from the middle of the city, I could feel the air beginning to dry. There was a temperature just rose about 10 degrees and getting hotter with every step. I was getting close to the desert. I ran faster. I could feel the air getting thicker around me, compressing my lungs. I've never been this close to the desert. I could see it. The grains of sand were being whipped around the emptiness of the desert. I heard the car behind me, gaining on me. I pushed myself more. They never followed past the rock. The rock was about a mile out in the desert. The sand slowed my pace. I kept running hard. I couldn't feel my body. There was a deafening pounding in my ears. It was my heart. Thump, thump, thump! I couldn't breathe. The car was getting stuck in the loose sand. I didn't dare look back. I was getting light-headed. Everything was blurry. The sand and the sky were blending into one. I couldn't see the rock anymore. I couldn't hear anything, not the car or my heartbeat. I felt my body falling. And everything faded into black.

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So there it is. Please review and let me know what you think xoxox traybay


	2. Chapter 2

This chaper is slower than the first since I didn't really think anyone would want more than just first chapter. So here it is. Hope you enjoy. And please review =]

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Feeling slowly came back to me. I could feel my leg muscles tight from over work, yet oddly they didn't hurt. My stomach was twisted into nervous knots. Memories of running from Lithia flooded my mind. I was about to open my eyes when I realized something was wrong with my surrounding. My last memory is the weightlessness of my body falling in the desert. Now I'm lying face down on ground that's soft and solid, not like sand at all. The air was stale, like there wasn't circulation here. Terror ran through my body and I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up. There was a slight shift to my right and I realize I'm not alone. Before my mind can catch up with my body, I'm slamming a body into the wall, with a hand on their windpipe. I blink my eyes open and it's like I'm starring into a mirror of my own face. My hand doesn't move from his throat and he seems like he's still in shock from my actions. I use this to my advantage and throw him onto the ground. He lets out a weak grunt as he hits the ground and I'm on top of him before he has time to do anything else. I pin his arms down with my body weight and once again my hands are on his throat. The adrenaline is pumping through my blood and I have to fight the changing to occur.

"Who are you?" I scream at him, shaking him a little.

Before he even tries to speak, I can feel his whole body shaking. Not with fear or another emotion, but from the changing. His chocolate brown hair recedes into his scalp as more hair sprouts everywhere else on his body. I can feel his arms moving and shifting from under my legs and a quickly jump off of him. The boy's eyes get pushed after apart was a muzzle forms, smashing his nose out and morphing his face. His clothes rip from his shifting form and he rolls over so he is on all fours. I watch as his ears elongate and stick straight up on his forehead. He body gives one last violent spasm and then it's over. In front of me now, instead of a boy, is now a wolf.

My breathing catches in my throat because I have haven't seen anther wolf Cambiador since the last of my family died, two hundred years ago. The wolf looks at me cautiously and trots to an opening in the wall. He lets out a long, low howl and I know he just called for immediate help since I speak wolf.

"I'm sorry." I rush, taking a step towards him. His ears flatten against his skull and he slowly backs away from me, afraid I'll attack him again. "I'm wolf, too."

His ears suddenly perk up, and he tilts his head to the side. This gesture was very cute and showed that he was a still a young Cambiador. He stepped towards me, sniffing the air around me, trying to get my scent. I held my hand out to him and concentrated on the wolf inside me. Being older, I could tap into some of the essence of my animal and use it to verify my identity. This was also a way to show age to other Cambiadors since only elders of the race could do it. The small brown wolf in front of my sniffed in my scent and caught the essence. His light blue eyes opened a fraction wider before he bowed his front legs to me in respects to my age and as an indication that he wasn't going to harm me.

Suddenly, I hear running through the doorway. I assumed it was the backup that the Cambiador called before. So did the little wolf because he moved to the opening and made another howl, this time saying there wasn't a treat anymore. The running slowed for a quick second before in continued towards the door. In the door appeared a tall man, who just like the boy…wolf in front of me, looked strikingly like me. He had spiky blonde hair and the same eyes as me and the boy. The muscles in his arms made me take a step, which quickly brought his attention to me. A low growl admitted from deep inside him as he took a step towards me. The little wolf was quick to jump in front of him, blocking his way.

"What is it, Sora? You just called for help and now you're defending him. I know he scared you into changing. I can still smell your fear in here." The blonde man practically growled, eyes never leaving me.

The brown wolf, or Sora I guess, yipped a couple times looking back and forth between me and the man. This tail started wagging like a domestic dog would and if it was under other circumstances; I would have laughed at the childish antics. The man seemed to visible relax as Sora said I was one of them, a wolf. So this man was also a wolf? I couldn't smell anything but my fear and confusion. So many questions started to form in my head but I didn't dear speak until the man talked to me. Even though I was likely his elder, I was in his territory and he wouldn't hesitate to defend his family if he thought I was a threat.

The man looked at me skeptically. Sora started to shake once again, this time reverting back into human form. The process didn't seem to faze the man at all. Soon enough, a now naked Sora stood up from in between me and the man.

"Cloud, quit starring at him like that! I said he was nice. I swear! I just scared him when he was waking up. He didn't mean it, did you?" The boy quickly turned to me, then back to the man without waiting for my answer. "And he didn't really hurt me. I just got startled because he moved so fast. And he's old! He released his essence just like the stories you tell me about elders. He's good I swear!"  
I was slightly amazed how fast Sora talked. He acted just like a puppy and he had a smile that threaten to split his face. I turned my attention back to the man, Cloud. His faced seems to lose some of its hardness and his stance had relaxed. I let myself relax with him.

"Go put on some clothes, Sora. No one wants to see you naked, kid." Cloud said, ruffling Sora's hair. Sora smiled at Cloud before he frowned.

" But..." Sora bit his lip as he looked at me, then back at Cloud. "Don't kill him while I'm gone. Okay? Promise me you won't."

"I promise." Cloud said.

Sora found this satisfactory and ran out of the room. I immediately wanted the boy back as it was just Cloud and I now in the room. Cloud walked up to me and I could feel my heart banging around in my chest. Cloud must have smelt my fear because he smirked as he walked closer. I quickly realized that running away from Lithia took a lot out me now that I didn't have adrenaline pumping through my veins. Oh my…I forgot about Axel! Now that I wasn't in immediate danger (at least I hoped), my mind was finally realizing that my mate was nowhere to be found in this place. I couldn't smell his scent anywhere and I got scared all over.

"Where's Axel? He a red head, about this high and he has red hair. And tattoos on his face. With red hair. And he's tall. Have you seen him? Where'd you take him? I need to see him now." I quickly said to Cloud. Cloud stopped his advance and looked at my curiously.

"You weren't found with anyone." Cloud said, with little emotion. His face then softened. "Was he your mate?"

"IS! He is my mate. Not past tense. Not past tense." I could feel the tears well up in my eyes. Where was Axel? He said he'd find me. But maybe it had just been a couple hours or so since we have to run. So he could still be looking for me. "How long have I been here? Maybe he just hasn't had time to come find me."

"Sora found you two days ago in the desert. I'm sorry about your mate." Cloud finally stood in front of me. He towered over me just like Axel did. Does. Just like Axel does. I have to keep my faith in him being alive. Cloud slowly reached out to me, and pulled me close to his chest. I immediately started crying. I wasn't good in stressful situations without my mate. I needed Axel and his childish antics to calm me down. He needed me too. I hope he was holding up better than I was. I needed to be strong for Axel, just like I know he'd be for me.

I pushed away from Cloud to wipe my tears. As I was rubbing my eyes, Sora ran back into the room, this time clothed. His smile vanished when he was my tears. He rounded on Cloud.

"What did you do to him? Why did you make him cry?" Sora hugged me to his thin frame and slowly rocked me back and forth. He continued to glare at Cloud as I continued to wipe my tears away.

"I didn't do anything, Sora. He just realized his mate isn't here." Cloud said, nonchalantly.

"Oh! Poor…What's your name?" Sora held me away from his body so he could look me in the eye.

"Roxas." I croaked. My throat was dry and scratchy.

"Okay, Roxas! Well, don't worry about your mate. I'm sure they'll be fine! We can go look for them when it gets to be night, right Cloud?" Sora quickly glanced at the man before turning back to be with a huge smile. "But first, you're probably half starved and dehydrated. So we'll get you some food and water."

I suddenly realized that I was in fact hungry and very thirst. I wasn't sure how much I could eat since my stomach was in knots worrying about Axel. But I could definitely go for some water.

"Yeah, that'd be nice." I smiled at Sora.

"Okay! Follow me then." Sora said as he started out the door.

"Wait." Cloud's voice rang out behind us, halting me my tracks.

"What?" Sora asked, annoyed he wasn't playing tour guide right now.

"We should ask him a few questions to make sure he's not a liability to us. He could have friends on the side. Plus we don't even know for sure what city he's from." Cloud stated.

"I'm from Lithia. I don't have friends on the inside…I'm not ever sure what that means. I just have Axel really." I say.

"See! He's from Lithia. He's just running from Xemnas and all the bad people like everyone else who have has through here." Sora said, tugging on my arm to get me to start walking again.

"But why are you running? What did you do you get in Xemnas' radar?" Cloud says, holding my other arm to keep Sora from walking away with me.

"I didn't do anything, I swear. Another Cambiador got caught and Xemnas made her name all the other Cambiador in exchange for her life. He showed up at my house and I ran. That's when I lost Axel." I say softly.

"He lost his mate, Cloud. Can't you just ease up on the questioning? You of all people should know what losing a mate is like." Sora says, pulling me from Cloud's grip.

Cloud growls and even bares his teeth at Sora. I can feel Sora shrink behind me.

"You have no right to speak of that, Sora." Cloud growls out.

"I'm sorry." Sora whispers.

"Leave now. Go get him food and water. Then I will resume my questions." Cloud says darkly.

Sora grips my arm and starts pulling me out of the room at a run. Everything is made of rock and there is hardly any light. I trip over the ground and few times as Sora weaves through the hallway. After a minute or so of running, Sora slows to a walk, finally letting go of my arm.

"I'm sorry about that. Cloud can get real mad sometimes," Sora says with a smile, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "I didn't mean to say that. It's just you just woke up and that's no way to treat a guest." Sora turns to me with a smile. "It's so exciting to have someone new here because we don't get visitors often. You're one of the lucky ones. I found you in the desert just after dark, so you didn't have the sun exposure that so many people who run have. That probably saved your life right there. No one can make it far in the desert heat and sun. Luckily I found you, too! If it would have been Cloud or someone like him, the might have just left you, or move your body away so it didn't attract unwanted attention."

"Where did you find me? I just remember running and seeing the rock and everything went blank right after that." I say.

"The rock? Which one silly? There's only like a ton outside." Sora says, giggling.

"The rock. The rock a mile outside of Lithia. That's where the spies and troops stop chasing Cambiadors." I say, baffled by the idea of other rocks. No one ever said anything about other rocks. Then again, I've never talked to someone who has been in the desert and made it back.

"Oh. Cloud has told me about that rock. He says the security patrol finds a lot of bodies there. I've never been there because it isn't safe for someone like me to go out there." Sora says, leading into a semi-large mess hall. It's completely empty other than us.

"Security patrol? And someone like you, what does that mean?" I ask, as he walks into the kitchen area. I follow behind.

"Yeah, security patrol goes out every night to make sure we're all safe here and that no one is trying to break into The Base-that's what this whole place is called- and every night there's a different team of people who do it. And someone like me means someone born inside The Base. I've only been out of The Base for training seminars and once I even snuck out during the morning to see what the outside looks without the dark. I only see light that comes in the light holes." Sora says, as he fills a glass of water from a jug in what looks like a refrigerator. But they don't have electricity, don't they? "And last night, we were doing this game…well, it's not suppose to be a game, but it's like chasing someone around because they are the bad guy, and we have to outrun them and hit. And the point is not to get touched by the bad guy because then you're out of the game. Anyways, so I was running from Demyx because he was the bad guy, and I kept running past the training area because I was having so much fun. And then I tripped and I looked and I tripped over you! And then Cloud came running because he was in charge of the seminars the other night and he was going to tell me to come back. Then he saw you and I asked if you could stay with us since you were alive. And he said yes because no one can resist me." Sora turns and gives me a big smile. He hands me a bowl of soup that looks like it has beef and noodles in it. I immediately start eating it as he starts to refill the glass of water.

The soup was really good and I set down the spoon in favor of just drinking it from the bowl. Sora laughs at my antics.

"Cloud said you give you soup because you'd be really hungry but could probably handle a lot of solid food. And he didn't want you to puke up solid food because it's hard to come by." Sora says, getting himself a bowl of soup too from a huge container.

"Yeah, that sounds right." I say in between slurping my soup down and swallowing. "How many are there of you living here?"

"Well, in The Base there are 12 families. But there's also tunnels that lead to another place, called The Res, short for The Reservoir, which has a ton of people there. It's huge and expanse over a large area of tunnels. Cloud said once after he visited there that they even have living areas above ground. There's a rock formation that has tunnels running through it and it's far enough away from the cities so it's not a risk for them to be above ground." Sora says. He takes my bowl from me and starts to fill it again. I nod my head in thanks.

"I'm shocked. I've never heard about an underground city of sorts in all my years." I say, trying to recall anything bit of information about The Base or The Res that I might have heard about.

"Yeah, you wouldn't because it's super top secret! How old are you, anyways if you don't mind me asking." Sora says, looking at me curiously.

"I'm 813 years old." I look at him to gauge his reaction.

His eyes widen in surprise. "Oh wow! You're really old. There only like, five people here that are that old that I know of! And they are all leaders or warriors."

"Yes, there are not many elders anymore with all the exiles that are happening. I've managed to stay pretty safe in my years, until I meet Axel." I say, frowning.

Sora's eyes soften. "You're mate, right?" I nod my head. "I'm sure he's fine. Since you didn't know there was The Base, he didn't either. So he probably doesn't know where to find you at." Sora says optimistically.

"Maybe. But he's young and stupid. So careless," I say as tears start to gather in my eyes. I blink them away before continuing. "And he will look for me. He probably knows I went into the desert and he's stupid enough to come out here in the heat and look for me."

"Well, he loves you and that's what mates do. They look for each other when they get separated, no matter what." Sora smiled. "I don't have a mate yet. But I'm only 114 so I still have time."

"114 and you hardly ever leave The Base? What have you been doing all your years?" I ask, trying to steer the conversation away from Axel because it makes me sad to not be with him.

"Well, I was raised until I was 17 with my parents and then one day, when my mom, Tifa, was out gathering food. She left the save area and she was ambushed by bad men from the city. They killed her when they found out she was a Cambiador. Cloud has been taking care me since." Sora says.

"I'm sorry to hear about your mother. So, Cloud is your father?" I ask, thinking back to their interaction and how it was not that typical way for a son and father to behavior around each other. It was too casual and impersonal for such a relationship.

"Yup. He's my dad. But he doesn't like me calling him that because the other people we train with might think I'm getting special treatment, so he just treats me like everyone else." Sora says.

"Hmmm." I say as I yawn. You would think after a two day nap I would be less tired.

"Oh are you tired? Cloud said you might be since your body has been recovering from you escaping. You'll probably need another good night's sleep before you are back to normal."

"Yeah, you're probably right. So, where should I sleep?" I ask.

"Back in the room you were in, since it's all set up for you. My room is just down the hall from the one you've been using, that way I can keep track of you since Cloud says you're my responsibility since I found you." Sora says, placing our used dishes in a sink.

He starts out the door of the kitchen and I follow him. Tiredness invades my brain and it's hard for me to think about anything other than sleeping. Sora leads me back through the tunnels, back to the room I woke up in. Sora opens a dresser I hadn't noticed and pulls out some blanket. He hands them to me and I lay them down on the bed area.

"Goodnight," he says as he walks to the door. "I'm just down the hall on the left if you need me for anything. See you tomorrow."

"Night," I say, laying down in the bed. Sora walked out of the room and I could hear his footsteps echo down the hall. I closed my eyes as another wave of tiredness hit me. My last thing I thought about before I feel asleep was how I hoped with everything I had that Axel was safe.

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Please review and tell me what you think xoxox traybay


	3. Chapter 3

This is Axel's POV from the time he last saw Roxas. Hope you enjoy. Please review so I know if you like it.

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I run down the street before slipping into an alleyway. I can hear people on foot chasing me but not a vehicle. Damn, it must be still after Roxas. I wish the car would have come after me since I'm the faster runner of us two. A gunshot rings out from behind me and while it wasn't aimed at me from the distant sound, my pace quickens automatically. I run out of the alleyway and cut down a side street. I feel so trapped in by the tall buildings. The sun sinks lower on the horizon, making it harder to spot alleys. Roxas never let me leave the house too much so I never really got a change to memorize the streets in the city. My heart beats hard in my chest and I try to catch my breath while still running. The wind rushes past my ears so fast I can't hear if I'm still being chase, but I imagine so.

I can feel the animal inside me threatening to rips its way out of me. If I start a changing, they'll be sure to catch me during the process even with a fifteen second changing, which was my personal best. Not that I could control the time it took. It all depended on the reason behind the changing: emotions like fear or angry, purposeful changing, or in sometimes, exhaustion. I wish I was older so I could control it better. Roxas has helped a lot but I'm still young for a Cambiador. I can feel my legs strain to keep going. I haven't had so much physical exercise since before Riku came back with his story about Xemnas' experiments. And that was two years ago. The only exercise I get is pacing around the house and the occasional time I slip out of the house unnoticed by Roxas…and of course, sex. I turn the street corner wide to see if I was still being chased. There were four figures in black cloaks about half a block down and looking like they were gaining speed.

I quickly scanned around and found an abandoned looking building. I could practically feel the fur pushing its way out of my skin. Figuring the door was locked, I ran full speed at the front of the build, towards a window that was just to the left of the door. As I jumped into the air, I could hear my chasers yelling, the word 'vessel' is all I hear from my mumbled yell. My body crashes through the glass with a deafening shatter. As soon as I hit the floor in the building, I can feel my body start to quiver in anticipation for the changing. As quickly as I can, I run through the door and make it out just in time to hear people climbing through the broken window. I see a door straight across the hall and I run to hit. I quickly shut and lock the door. I just have time to see it is a small bathroom before my sight blurs and I drop to my knees as my skull rips itself apart to reform. My fingers turn to claws and my hands to paws. It feels like my chest is exploding and I can feel my ribs pushing outward. My hips move out of socket as my spinal cord extends itself. My jaw reshaped and I feel my teeth jut out and my canines lengthen. Muscles lengths and changed shape and my bones broke and reformed. My body gives a harsh shake as everything snaps into place. The whole changing took around twenty seconds.

Pounding on the door brought my attention away from my changing and to the threat. The great cat that had taken over my body acted on instinct. My ears laid flat against my head, my eyes narrowed. My whiskers stood erect and splayed and my mouth parted to bare my teeth. My low growl erupted from deep inside my throat. The pounding on the door halted. I tried stepping back but was quickly halted by the wall. I sat on my hind legs. I moved my ears to the front to pick up the talking outside the door. It seems they were fighting about who should kick in the door.

"Sounds like a big cat. My gun's out of bullets. Vic don't you have a taser? You do it." A male voice said, obviously startled by my growl.

"We need a plan. You can't just shock the vessel and expect it to go down no worries. The thing is made of pure evil. How about I shock it and when it gets stunned, you hit it over the head to knock it out for sure. Okay?" The one presumably named Vic said. "Troy and Malika are out front calling for a truck to haul the body back to the Inferno. Let's do this before the truck gets here."

I hear them shuffling around, probably trying to find something to knock me out with. I quickly glance around the room. No windows. Fuck I'm dead. I shouldn't have picked a house, let alone a bathroom to hide in. Instincts just took over; I guess I didn't even think. Now that I'm trapped, the adrenaline pumping through my veins makes me acutely aware of how awkward and inadequate I am. I can't just turn my instincts back on and have them take over my body, aiding me in escape. Think, Axel, think. I hone in on the movement outside the door. I can hear the crunch of glass from the room across the hall. There are voices, one deep and undistinguishable and the other Vic's. Vic was asking about the truck. The deep voice replied five minutes. Down the hall I could hear the other man, must have found something heavy because his footsteps were coming towards the bathroom door.

"I got it, Vic. Found a baseball bat in the back room," the man says. I hear Vic move from the room across the hall and come near again. I hear the flicker of electricity in the air as the taser is turned on. My hair stands on end and I try to back up even farther but my size prevents me from doing so. I stand on my hind legs and angle my body away from the door so it won't hit me when they kick it in. I settle my front paws on the sink and it creaks from my weight.

"You kick the door in, I'll shock him. You hit him. Got it?" Vic says.

I could hear the other man nod his head, gripping the bat over and over again. I can smell his fear. I am not evil. But if they so believe I am, maybe I should indulge them. Roxas wouldn't like that. He is very against violence. But because of these men, I didn't even know if Roxas as safe. Angry boiled over and a vicious growl builds in my throat. The thought of them hurting my Roxas, my mate, makes me almost loss control and bust through the door and rip the men to pieces. But I hold back as I hear them approach the door, barely able to hear the faint count down. Three. Two. One.

The door burst open and before either man has time to react, I lunge. Vic, a tall built brunette with steel blue eyes, is holding a taser out in front of him and the last thing I see him is the widening of his eyes before my body crashes into him. I easily over power him and knock him down. His body slams into the floor head first, eyes immediately rolling back in his head, knocked out cold. A sudden movement from the left catches my eyes. I look up to see a slightly smaller man, stockier with a buzz cut. He has both arms are above his head holding the bat, leaning back to get momentum for the swing. Before he has time to start a forward swing, I lunge once again, this time with one paw swiping out to knock him off balance right I land on him. The bat flies from his hands and hits me in the back. I barely feel it as I fall with the man to the ground. He lands on his side, hand above head still. Unlike Vic, he doesn't get knocked out since his arm took the brute force of the fall. I hear his bones crack as my weight lands on him. He lets out a strangled scream and I go for the throat. My whiskers aid me in finding the artery that would kill him and I aim a little to the left of it, wanting to immobilize him for the time being instead of outright killing him.

I jump off him and spin around to face the room with the window in jumped through. I hone in to outside and I can hear a rickety vehicle pulling up to the building. Without another hesitation, I run toward where the baseball bat man came from. The hall leads to a living room area with a huge sliding glass window. Luckily for me, the window part was pulled back, leaving only a sliding screen. I slash a paw and keep running through the now tattered screen. I leap the railing of the short deck and continue towards a wooden fence, which I clear with ease. Upon landing on the outside, in the middle of the street, I assess my situation. There is very little light, since the sun was sinking lower with every second. My animal eyes aren't as good as seeing at dark since I was mostly colored blind in tiger form, but I could detect the slightest movement with ease, along with heightened hearing. My whiskers indicate the air current and I easily pick out the way to the desert. Running right down the road, with a left at the intersection and it was a straight shot. Two miles, three most and I could be in the desert. And with another mile to the rock and I'd be safe. I take off running and I start doing mental math to ease my erratic heartbeat. Whenever Roxas and I fight, I do mental math to calm down. I also found that when I was in changing, it calmed my irrational emotions and primal instincts to attack and defend my territory. I take the left and full out sprint towards the radiating heat of the desert. Even though it was dark, the heat of the sand could still be felt. At least to me, I could feel it. Okay so math. I can run full speed, which was around 35 miles per hour. I had, rounding up, 5 miles to run. You can go 60 miles in 60 minutes. 35 miles over 5 miles times 60 minutes over x minutes is 5 times 60 which is 300 divided by 35 and the total is 8.5 minutes until I'm safe. Too bad my math is irrelevant since I don't have access to a clock.

The building blur by as I run. The farther away from the abandoned house, the more my energy is drained from me. My legs threaten to give out. I look towards my destination but it seems so much farther away than from when I began. Maybe I should recuperate before going into a desert when I'm so drained. Slowing to a trot, I look for something familiar in my surroundings. By chance, I'm coming up to Ellyis Street, which Roxas' friend Sophie used to live on before she went missing. I turn onto the street and make my way to the house she lived in. Roxas believes that Xemnas found out about her being a Cambiador and "exiled" her. He has nothing to base this off of other than the fact that she was gone without a trace on day. No note, no nothing. Just gone. All of her things still in her house. But I don't think she was taken. The girl never left her house and on the rarity that she did, she came to see Roxas at our house. She even had Roxas or a neighbor do her grocery shopping, telling the neighbor she had a heart condition and couldn't be out in the sun for so long. I asked her how she got away with saying that and living in a place like Lithia, which boarded a desert. She made up some excuse about the house being her parents, yada yada. I never did listen to her much because she took precious Roxas time away from me. She talked too much, flinched away from ever sound, to skittish for me. Too much like prey, not enough predator. Of course, her changing animal was a deer. So that accounted for the behavior. I like to think that she just decided to get out of Lithia and was too scared to tell Roxas for one reason of another. I hope she's alive but Roxas isn't so optimistic.

I walk up to Sophie's front door. I went to reach for the hidden key (I've been here for dinner a couple times) when I realize I'm still in changing. I look up and down the street and I'm so glad there is a citywide curfew at dark. The reasoning behind that is because the temperature drop once the sun goes down. Since people in Lithia are used to high temperatures daily, the extremely low temperatures at night come cause people to get hypothermia or sick if they are exposed for too long in the coldness. Already I can feel the coldness creeping into the air.

I take a deep breath and imagine the feeling the changing shifting me back to human form. Roxas thought me how to have some control on changing, for the shifting. For me, I have to imagine the changing to morph into a human form to activate the changing to happen. Roxas says he just thinks about when he wants to turn from one form to another to start a changing. But he's a lot older so he has lots of practice. I feel my skull rip apart and give into the changing. After twenty five seconds (I always count) I open my eyes in my human form. I blink a few times to get my sight to adjust back to colors and tell resolution. My hearing is also dulled, but that's not such a bad thing because now I don't hear every little movement that's caused by the light breeze from the wind. I reach up above the doorframe and grab the key. I slide it into the lock and open the door.

I shut the door and lock in before moving deeper into the house, heading towards the kitchen. A light dust covers almost every surface. Sophie's scent barely lingers in the air. She's been gone for four months now. I walk to the sink and turn it on. It sputters a bit before running out cool water. I duck my head down and drink directly from the facet. After drinking my fill, I turn the water off and move to the cupboards to find something to eat. The only thing I find is animal crackers, how ironic. I bring the bag with me as I explore the rest of the house. Just as I get to the staircase I hear a crack of the floorboard upstairs and I can hear the slight shifting of someone or something slowly crawling across the floor. I slowly start up the stairs, trying not to give myself away. The third floorboard squeaks and a stop before my other foot stand on it. The shuffling stops and everything is eerie quiet. I hold my breath to see if I can hear any more sounds. I close my eyes and concentrate on where the sound came from. I can hear breathing, short erratic intakes of air through the nose. A gulp and a strangled sob as the person try their hardest not to make a sound.

I slowly step over the third step and start taking two steps at a time until I reach the top of the landing. The breathing is coming from the right, which if I remember correctly, is where Sophie's room was. As stealth as I can, which is pretty stealth if I do say so, I make my way to the front of the bedroom door. I go to grab the doorknob but I stop just before I touch it. This seems like a situation in which Roxas wouldn't want me to open the door. He's so afraid of everything unknown but I guess he has reason, living over 800 years, you must see some horrible stuff. But me, I'm curious. Like a cat, haha. That's funny because I am a cat. Roxas says to me all the time curiosity killed the cat. Fuck it, that's why we have nine lives. I'm just joking, I only have one life. That whole nine lives thing is totally false. My internal monologue is cut short when I hear the person inside the room shift again. I fling open the door with a battle cry, jumping into a fighting stance, holding the bag of animal crackers like a weapon.

Inside the room, near the bed is a tiny girl. She has short black hair and her eyes are almost as blue as Roxas'. She's on her hands and knees, with one hand up near her mouth, like she was trying to cover up any sounds she made. She stares at me wide-eyed with her mouth hanging open, frozen in the middle of her crawl. A small "eep!" escapes her eyes roll back and she falls to the floor. Oh, great I made her faint. I walk over to where she is now sprawled on the floor. I pick up her body and lay in into the bed. I guess I have nothing else to do until she wakes up. I sit in a chair that's near the bed. I quickly realize I'm still naked from changing back into human form. Well that's great; I just scared a girl half to death while naked. As I get up to go find some clothes, I pass by a full length mirror. I quickly glance at it and do a double take. I stop and walk right up to the mirror, inspecting my face. All over my face, chest, shoulders, and arms are tiny cuts. They don't look deep at all and they don't even hurt really. But collectively I look really beat up. The cuts get longer and slightly deeper as they go down my arm. Oh yeah I jumped through a window. Maybe I should take a shower to clean the cuts before I find clothes. I made my way out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom. I turn the hot water on and step in. The hot water is so relaxing. I think I'll just take a nice long hot shower while the girl is sleeping.

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I died laughing when I wrote the part about Axel busting open the door, naked. Anyone else like that part? Please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Hope you enjoy this chapter, it has some background information about Cambiadors that I wanted to explain. It's not too exciting but I needed to explain things.

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By the time I get out of the shower and dry off, the girl is still sleeping. I rummage through the closet and dresser until I find a pair of sweats and shirt that somewhat fit. The pants only go to my knees and the t-shirt rides up if I lift my hands. I grab the animal crackers off the floor where I left them in favor of picking the girl up. I sit down in the chair and the sweats ride up some. I only manage to sit in the chair for two minutes before I start fidgeting. I cross, and then uncross my legs, only to cross them again. I pick at the cuts on my arms that are already mostly faded. One good thing about being a Cambiador is fast healing abilities. But the downside to that is if a cut happens to get infected before the cut heals and then the cut heals up, the infection is stuck inside the body with no means to treat it without injecting medicine where the cut as. Soon the cut I'm playing with heals itself completely, leaving me with nothing to do again. How long does it take for someone to wake up after passing out? Roxas would know. He knows lots of useless facts which is probably the reason I never learned them. I'm never without him and the loneliness is starting to get to me. Since the day we became mates, I've only been without him days. We've been together for 83 years. Seems like a long time, but when you can potentially live forever, it's just a heartbeat in time. I smile to myself as I think of when we meet. I was only a 100 years old, a baby to most Cambiadors. From the first day we meet, Roxas called me a baby and picked on me because of my age.

You see, when Cambiadors are born, they are born in human form because they haven't yet developed the ability to changing yet. Cambiadors are just like humans from birth to around the ages of 25-27. That time is when cognitive development is fully developed and personality traits become concrete. After a Cambiador is fully matured humanly, the process of acquiring changing starts. The animal that is the dominate changing is determined by the parents changing. Only same species (including subspecies) of changings can produce offspring. If subspecies have a kid, like a lion and a tiger, they will produce a child who possesses both changing. Depending on which changing the father is will determine the dominate changing. If the father is lion, the dominate changing is lion. So the kid could either changing to lion, or tiger, and when more matured, they can combine the two and become a liger. Don't laugh. It's real. There's a story about this great Cambiador warrior named Leon who was a liger. He was lion dominate but in battles he pulled both changing to become a liger. If you don't know anything about cross breading, it tends to result in gigantism. The average liger is around 800lbs and 12 feet long, from nose to tail tip. I know this because, being a tiger changing, I'm intrigued by fellow tiger changing. Leon is said to have fought Xemnas, in revenge for the exile of Cambiador. But shortly after the fight, Leon was never seen again. This is about 20 years ago, right as Xemnas came to power in Lithia. Anyways, after the late 20's for a Cambiador, the changing starts to develop. And the changing develops for around the same time it would take for that animal to develop into adulthood. Once the animal side is matured, then a Cambiador's body starts adjusting for the actually changing to occur. For me, being a tiger changing included the addition of vertebra, which as my most painful. I matured humanly at the age of 27. My tiger side took 7 years to reach sexual maturity. So I was 34 when my body went through the process of changing to begin. My backbone had to lengthen to account for the extra five vertebrae tigers have. This was intensive pain since each vertebra took a couple months to develop. Once my backbone was done, additional muscles, bones and extra ligaments made room throughout my body. My throat was also a hard time to go through because for three months I couldn't talk. The larynx is specialized in big cats, so the process to develop it took a long time. The larynx allows a big cat to roar, and in tigers, it's specialized to make both low and high frequency sounds. The process of changing for me took two years. I was 36 years old by the time my body had fully matured and it was the first time my body was able to go through the process of a changing. The first changing is always extremely painful and takes the longest. My first time took a full minute to complete and I about passed out from the pain. After the first changing, the human form no longer has the extra parts that are found in the process of changing. Once the first changing occurs, a Cambiador gets a mentor who helps with controlling changing. The animal instinct can easily overpower the human side and result in disasters. For the first ten years after the first changing, Cambiadors are separated from society to live with their mentor. They are taught the basics of control of emotions and instincts. After this time, the Cambiador is brought back into mainstream society and has to re-socialize. During this time, many go to schools and colleges to learn a trade. I was 46 when I re-socialized and took four years off before learning a trade. In those four years I tried to learn as much as I could about the world so I could get a better understanding of what I wanted to be. I learned I loved history and I went to school for ten years to become a historian. I then, at the age of 60, went out and traveled the world studying cities individual cities and working in museums.

I was doing this when I first met Roxas. He walked into the museum I was working for at the time and I knew from the first glance that he'd be my mate. Same-sex mating is an adaptation for population control that Cambiador have developed over the years since we can live for presumably forever. Even the humans have used this adaptation since with medical advances, human life is estimated at 150 years. Roxas was looking at a painting of Cambiadors and the process of changing. I walked over and said hi. And I could see it in his eyes; he knew we'd be mates. The mating process is similar to the imprinting ducks and other fowl do. There is this bound that is formed between the souls of each Cambiador and it is the strongest bond; even stronger than the bond between mother and child. There are stories about how a mother would run into a burning house, not to save her children, but to save her mate. You only get one mate, one person in the entire world that was seemingly made specifically for you. You can always make more children. If Roxas dies before I do, I will kill myself. I refuse to exist in a world without him in it. This isn't even an extreme notion; most Cambiadors will kill themselves when their mate dies. Mostly because they know, that no matter what, they will never find someone they fit with so perfectly. Roxas and I started dating because he's old fashion like that (he was 730 years old when I first met him). I don't know how he existed for so long without a mate. Just because there is a perfect one of a kind mate out there for you, doesn't mean you will find them. Many Cambiadors spend their whole lives traveling the world, just to find the one. I'm so lucky to have found Roxas when I was so young.

There's a movement in the bed that pulls me out of my thoughts. My head snaps to look at the bed where the girl is now awake and staring at me with big eyes again. I try to think of something to do or say that won't make her pass out again. I look at the animal crackers in my hand and hold the bag out to her.

"Cracker?" I ask, with a big smile.

This apparently was the worst thing I could have said. The girl starts screaming her head off. I cover my ears from the sudden noise and she leaps off the bed. I jump up after her with the intent of shutting her blood curdling screams. If the neighbors called the police (AKA Xemnas' lackeys) I'd be dead. I tackle the girl as gently as I can. While falling to the ground, I rotate my body to hit first so I don't crush her. As soon as my back hit the floor, I roll over on top of her and put one of my hands over her mouth. She starts to violently struggle against me.

"Shhh! Shhh! I'm not going to hurt you. Don't fight. Ow!" I pull back my hand that was on her face when she bites me. She uses this lapse of my attention to wiggle out from under me. She just barely grabs the door before I grab her foot. Shit, I think, if she gets out of the house and tells anyone about me, I will be dead. As soon as my hand wraps around her ankle, she drops to the floor and starts shaking. Her leg shrinks out of my hand and her body disappears into the shirt she was wearing. All that is left of the girl is a little bump inside her t-shirt. Curious as to what she changing is, I lift the bottom of the shirt up and peak inside. A tiny little black bunny sits in the middle of the shirt. She looks at me for a split second before darting out of the shirt and across the room. Before I have time to turn around I already lost her. One my hands and knees I go to the bed and pick up the skirt and look under. There she is, in the far back corner. I stick my arm under to try and grab her but I can't reach.

"Come here," I say as soothing as I can. I can't quite get the smile off my face because she is so cute! If anything, the bunny backs farther into the corner. I sigh. "It's okay, I swear. I'm a Cambiador, too! Wanna see?" I stand up and quickly strip. I pull all my focus into the changing and after 20 seconds, I'm a tiger again. I stick my head under the bed since I don't have hands to pull the skirt back again. I give a little meow, or as close to it as I can. The bunny, if anything seems more scared. She darts out from under the bed and starts running haywire around the room, trying to find and escape. I start trotting after her, trying to catch her without out crushing her. After five minutes of tight turns and not even getting close to her, I stop. This is too much exercise without rest. Exhaustion from the day is hitting me hard all of a sudden. I sit down on the floor and concentrate on changing back.

Once I open my eyes back up, I can just seem the bunny run under the bed again. I grab my discarded clothes and put them back on. I crawl into the bed, giving up on the bunny. Screw it, I think. She's not going to call the police since she would be giving herself away in the process. I assume Xemnas has ordered the police to seize all the Cambiadors in the city and take them back to the Inferno. I turn over in the bed, trying to get convertible. The clock besides the bed read 4:39am. I've been up for away to long.

"Hey, bunny. I'm going to bed now. Mmmk? I've had a hard day, escaping Xemnas and his goons. So nighty night, bunny. Sleep tight," I say as I close my eyes, welcoming sleep.

~~~~~~~~Time Lapse~~~~~~~~

I slowly drift back to consciousness. I can feel the warm of the sun on my back. I reach over to grab Roxas, but my hands meet nothing put air. Confused, I open my eyes and look around the room. This isn't my house, I think. Then the memories of yesterday rush back. I see the open door, which means the bunny changed back into human form and she's probably long gone by now. I look at the clock as I rub my eyes. It says 2:15pm. Wow, I only slept for nine hours. Slowly I sit up in bed and stretch. I pull off the covers and slowly get out of bed. I start for the door when I hear movement downstairs. Maybe bunny didn't leave after all. I make my way down the stairs, loud enough to be heard and not startle her. I walk into the kitchen and see the girl rummaging through the refrigerator. I clear my throat. She whips around with wide eyes, but upon seeing me, she relaxes a little and turns back around and grabs some premade salad out.

"Hi," she timidly says, while opening the bag. "Sleep well?"

"Mmm." I say, standing in the door of the kitchen, not knowing what to do. "I thought I would have slept longer than just nine hours though."

At my words, she looks up at me, confused. "You've been asleep for a full day and a half."

This time I'm the one looking confused. "What? Are you serious?"

She nods her head quickly as she plates her salad. "Are you hungry? You must be, for having not eaten in so long."

My tummy decides to do my talking and lets out a groan. I pet it, embarrassed. "Yeah, but I'm not really one for salads." I say, grimacing at the rabbit food on her plate. HA! Rabbit food…because she's a bunny.

"I went out yesterday and got some eggs and meat for you because I figured you didn't eat salad." She points to the refrigerator. I open it to find a carton of eggs, milk, cheese, and a large steak. I grab the steak and eggs.

"Here, I can make those for you. As an apology for freaking out the other day." She grabs the things from my arms and grabs a skillet. "How do you like your steak and eggs?' She asks, heating the skillet.

"Rare and scrambled, please." I say, sitting down at the kitchen table. I didn't say much as she cooked for me. Soon enough she set a plate full of eggs and steak in front of me. I picked up my spoon and starting digging into the eggs. The girl watched me as I devoured my food. At the end of five minutes, all that was left on my plate was the bone from the steak and even that was cleaned of any meat.

"Um thanks…what's your name?"I ask.

"Xion. What's yours?"

"Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" I say, excited to use my old catch phrase. Since Roxas never lets me leave the house, I have no one to introduce myself to.

Xion giggles a little, shyly. "Sure. So…why are you in Sophie's house? I've never meet you, nor has she ever mentioned an Axel." She peers at me from across the table.

"You know Sophie? Oh, I guess you would, being in her house. My mate, Roxas, and her were friends." I say.

"Oh, okay. I know the name Roxas. She mentioned him a lot. But not you." Xion says.

I give a nervous laugh. "Yeah I don't think she liked me. She only tolerated me because of Roxas."

"Mmm" is all I got in response as she went back to eating her salad. I suddenly felt really awkward and didn't know what to do or say. I get all fidgety and have word vomit. I can feel the word vomit coming up.

"So, how old are you? Because at first you just passed out. And then you screamed and ran. So that kinda mean you're older, right? Because if you were younger, you would have had changing immediately when you saw me." I rush out.

Xion looks at me with her head cocked a little to the side. Great she probably thinks I'm a complete idiot. "Um, I'm 267 so I'm not too old. But yes, I can control my changing most the time, unless I get really frightened."

"Sorry," I say, an embarrassed blush staining my cheeks.

"It's okay. I was just so worked up over the police coming to my house and trying to take me away. I'm assuming that's what you mean, when you said you had a hard day, escaping Xemnas."

"Yeah, he came after dinner time. And it just wore me out, running away and then almost getting caught, then running some more, until I remembered Sophie's house was close by." I say.

"So, where is Roxas?" Xion says.

"I'm not sure. I tried to get them to follow me but the car went after him so I don't know where he's at. Or if he's okay. But I feel like I would know, you know? Like in my heart. If something were to happen I'd know, since he's my mate, right?" I ask.

"I'm not sure. I don't have a mate. But I'm sure you would know." She smiles politely.

I nod my head. I would know if Roxas was okay, wouldn't I?

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Again, I laughed so hard at the Axel and Xion part, when he was chasing him around the room. Please review and let me know what you think.


	5. Chapter 5

So here's the next chapter. I like it. I hope you do, too. Please review!

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It is cold when I wake up. I rub the sleep from my eyes and glance around the room. There's a faint light in the room but I can't tell where it is coming from. I quickly slip away from the bed and stretch. My whole body seemed to crack. My age is sure wearing on my body. It was common for Cambiadors to suffer from joint stiffness and general achiness when they were past the age of 500. But of course, Cambiadors wouldn't die from "old age" but being around for so long weakened the body of the human, but the animal grew stronger. One last stretch and I walked to the door. I walk to where Sora said his room was but when I push the door open, he isn't in. I can smell he was here not too long ago and that there's a fresher trail of his scent leading down the corridor. I follow the scent down the vaguely familiar halls and end up in the mess hall. Sora is sitting down at a table with Cloud standing beside him. They both look up when I come in, with very different expressions. Cloud looks at me stoically while Sora smiles so big it practically consumes his face and waves me over. I make my way over to the pair.

"Hi! How did you sleep? Do you want something to eat? Okay, I'll go get you something!" Sora said as I come to a stop beside him. He was already in the kitchen before I had time to open my mouth. I felt awkward next to Cloud with his expressionless face. We stood in silence until Sora returned a bowl of oatmeal.

"Thanks," I say as I sit and start eating.

"No problem. Did Cloud tell you the plan? I'm super excited. Cloud said I could go if I promise not to wonder away. Right, Cloud?" Sora says in one breath.

"What plan?" I ask confused.

"We're going to find your mate!" Sora says, bouncing in his car. "And we are-"

"Sora." Cloud cuts the boy off before he can say another word. Sora looks down, shamefully. Once Cloud was sure Sora wasn't going to start talking again, he shifted his gaze to me. I looked down to my oatmeal to avoid his stare.

"I said, we could go and look for him, outside The Base. We are not going on a scavenger hunt for him." Cloud says, looking back at Sora.

"He's not some item on a list. He's my mate!" I snap, slamming my spoon on the table. Sora jumped at my outburst while Cloud just shifts his gaze once again to me.

"You're mate is not my priority. I have a colony of people I have to protect and your mate is not one of them. I can't risk people's lives just to find one who I have no loyalties too." Cloud said, like he was scolding child.

I could feel my anger rise but my logic told me he was right. He didn't know Axel, so he had to obligations to find him. Sora obviously didn't have my logic.

"Cloud! You said we'd find him! You promised me," Sora exclaimed. His voice wavered at the last sentence and he looked like he was going to cry. I felt the need to coddle him.

"He's right, Sora. He doesn't have to find Axel. Helping look for him around The Base is enough," I say, walking to Sora. Sora took this as an invitation to hug and I held him.

"Sora," Cloud's voice startled me because I never heard him speak so gently. "I said we'd try to find Axel. I promised I would look. That's all I said."

Sora pulled away from my embrace and hugged Cloud. The sudden impact of the boy made Cloud take a step back before he put his arms around Sora. Cloud looked uncomfortable by the affection and patted Sora on the back twice before pushing him away.

"So can we go look now? For Axel?" Sora said, back to being happy again.

"Once you get dressed for the outside, find me and we'll go," Cloud says, walking away.

Sora looked like he was ready to run back to his room before he remembered me. He turned to face me with a smile.

"Finish up eating than we'll get dressed," Sora said, shaking with anticipation.

I ate the rest of my oatmeal as fast as I can without choking on it. As soon as I finish the last bite, Sora grabs the bowl and spoon away from me and returns the used dishware to the kitchen. Sora returned in a second seconds, virtually skipping to me. I stood and followed him as he navigated us back to the rooms. Sora skidded to a stop and turned to face me.

"Come on in! I'll get you clothes to wear," Sora said, disappearing into the room. I followed attentively, not sure of how Sora kept his room. Surprisingly, it was clean and I went in farther. Sora was digging through the closet, trying to find clothes. I looked around the room and found it to be plain like the room I had been staying in. A "ah ha!" from deep in the closet pulled my attention back on Sora. He wiggled back out of the closet and turned to me.

"Here!" Sora exclaimed, throwing the clothes at me instead of calmly handing them to me. Blackness covered my eyes as the clothes landed on my head. I slowly pulled them off, sending an annoyed look at Sora. His smile was gone in a flash and he looked down remorsefully.

Rolling my eyes at his display, I walked over to him and pushed his gently. He looked up into my eyes and flashed a smile when he realized I wasn't mad. He acted like such a puppy it made me want to laugh.

"Okay, here's your boots too. So let's change and then we can go!" Sora said, ripping his shirt off and over his head.

"Um…right here?" I asked, clutching the clothing to my body to try and make up for the lack of modesty Sora was displaying.

Sora looked up in the middle of unzipping his pants, confused. His confusing immediately turned into embarrassment. He laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Ha, I guess I forgot you're not from around here. Everyone around here is used to my nudity since I can't control changings yet so I didn't even think to change clothes in separate rooms." Sora explained, quickly pulling a long sleeved black shirt over his torso.

"That's alright. I'm just…going to go to my room to change," I said, exiting the room. Silly little wolf. I had forgotten the liveliness of younger wolf Cambiadors, having not been around any since I was that age. I smiled at the memory of me being a just over a hundred years old as I walked into my room.

Quickly I removed my clothes, sans my boxers. I looked at the clothes Sora had given me. Every item of clothing was black. As quickly I had undressed, I redressed in the shirt, pants, socks, boots, and even gloves. Once I was dressed again, I had one piece of clothing left that I wasn't sure what to do with. It was like a bag made of very thin silky material. I had no idea where I was suppose to wear it. I walked back into Sora's room where he was waiting more or less patiently on his bed. As soon as he saw me, he sprung up off the bed and skipped over to me.

"Ready to go?" He asked, already heading down the hall.

"Yeah but what do I do with this?" I asked, holding up the silky fabric.

"It's a head mask. It'd do you no good if all of you were unseen except your head," Sora said, quickening his pace the closer we got to the mess hall. Instead of going through the doors to the mess hall, we took a left at a doorway I haven't noticed before. We follow the hall down to the right. I can feel the air getting warmer, which meant that we were getting closer to outside. I could feel my calves burning a little from walking uphill, even though I hadn't realized I was. I was practically jogging to keep up with Sora's speed walk. He looked like he was ready to sprint outside, but knew he had to get Cloud first. Before long, he suddenly stopped and I almost ran into him. He stood in front of a door and knocked lightly. The door immediately opened and Cloud stood in the enter way, skin completely covered in black, except for his head. I have to admit, he looks really good in all black. Cloud looked us up and down before nodding a little.

"Masks?" Cloud asked.

"Right here!" Sora said, holding his up in his hand.

"Put it on. Make sure Roxas puts on his right," Cloud says, as he pulls out his own mask from who knows where. Ha, like I'm incapable of putting a mask on.

I put the thing on my head only to realize I can't see a thing. The material suctions to my face and I try to twist the mask around so I can see but it's too tight on my head. I can't breathe because the material is so thick, which I find odd because it's so thin. I hear Cloud sigh and Sora giggle at me trying to free myself from the mask. My hands are knocked away from my head and two larger hands replace them, except they actually move the suffocating material away from my nose and mouth. With one harsh twist, my vision is returned. It was weird, I knew there was material covering my face but I could see perfectly fine. As I marveled at ability that the mask allotted, Cloud removes his hands from my mask and starts walking away, shaking his head. I guess I'm not the first he's had to save from asphyxiation by mask. Sora is still giggling at me.

"Don't worry," he says between giggles. "I used to do that all the time."

From up the hall were Cloud is comes a 'used to?' and Sora stops his laughing and turns to his father.

"Hey, last time wasn't my fault. Demyx said he was going to help put it on and he did it wrong on purpose," Sora says, starting to follow the path Cloud is taking. Speaking of Demyx…

"Sora, you said there's other Cambiadors living here. I've been here three days, granted I've slept for most of the time, but I haven't seen anyone. Or even smelt a trace of anyone but you and Cloud." I say, trying to think back of my time I've spend here. Wow, three days without Axel. That's the longest we've been away from each other in a long time.

"Huh? Oh yeah. That's because the day after you came here, some people got scared. There have been a lot of bodies lately found in the desert," Sora said, with a somber and serious tone I haven't heard him speak with yet. I must say, he almost scared me, dressed head to toe in black and acting all grown up. I know I haven't known him long but I would want hyper Sora around any day compared to this. "You made number 13 in the past two weeks… and you're the only one who has made it out alive. People got scared and at least 5 families moved for sure, with two on the fence still. They're going to the Res to stay until they feel save. The other 4, because me and Cloud are a family, they're around in other parts of the tunnel, carrying out security patrols and training. As for smell…you can't smell them because of these suits. Blocks all Cambiador odors and heat from escaping, you know, so no one can detect us on infrared. We're practically invisible out there," I could hear the smile in his voice. During his whole speech, we had our way up the hall and to the right, which lead us down another hall. Cloud's black clad figure was already at the end, waiting by what I presumed was the door to the outside. We quickly came to the end of the hall.

"Ready?" Cloud asked, turning his head to look at us.

"Yes!" Sora exclaimed, nodding his head yes vigorously.

Cloud reached up, over Sora and my head's and hit the wall above where I could reach. The brick sized section of the wall pushed in like a button and a rock-on-rock grinding sounded from the end of the hall we had just come from. I turned and saw a large block of the wall sliding across the wall, cutting off the section of wall we were in. I whipped around and looked at Sora and Cloud but they both were looking forward, where what I thought was the door was sliding open. Unlike the chunk of wall behind us that was closing off the hall, this chuck was sliding opening up to the desert. Having been underground for the last three days, with the stale air I was really excited to see the outside world. I could feel Sora shaking with anticipation. Cloud was blocking the exit, as if he expected Sora and I to bolt out. But then again, I wouldn't put it against Sora…or myself after three days of confinement in the underground base. The walls stopped moving and all was silent. Cloud turned, still blocking the way.

"You two keep together. Don't lose each other. Sora, remember he doesn't know the way around here like you do, so do not let him out of your sight. I'll go straight to the grave area and look there. You two follow the perimeter of the training area and meet me over by the grave area. Got it?" Cloud asked, sounding more fit to be instructing an army for attack rather than Sora and I.

"Got it!" Sora said.

"Remember to-" Cloud started by was quickly cut off by Sora.

"Don't lose Roxas, don't leave the training area, don't run, blah blah I know." Sora said.

"I just worry about you being alone. Especially after last time." Cloud said, still reluctant to leave his son.

"But I found Roxas! So maybe I'm good luck," Sora said, probably smiling.

"Maybe…Okay I'm leaving now. Be safe." Cloud said. He hit some part of the around the door we came out of and it slide shut. Cloud took one step away from us, before turning back to us suddenly. He swiftly lifted Sora up in a massive bear hug and placed him back on the ground. Cloud was already faded into the distance before Sora had time to react. When Sora regained his composure, he gave a half wave to his retreating father before turning to me.

I quickly scan the area around us. There are two lines of tall rocks that outline a pure sand area. The side we're on, the rocks are headed west, straight at Lithia. There's about a quarter mile of sand space before the other line of rocks runs parallel with our side of the valley of sand. Cloud ran up the middle of the valley, so fast I couldn't even see him anymore. The clearing of a throat pulled me away from my observations.

"Wanna hold my hand?" Sora asked, holding a hand out to me.

"Um…" was all I was able to say.

"Because you don't know the land. Cloud's trained me to be able to navigate the perimeter blindfolded. And you don't know where the rocks are and whatnot…" Sora said.

"Sure," I say because the boy is way too cute to deny.

As soon as I placed my hand in his, he grips it tight and takes off, to the left of the rock that was the door. Sora was jogging while I trailing after him like a doll in the hand of a running child. Sora's head keep sweeping back and forth, surveying the sandy landscape for possible enemies. I was surprising not cold from being out in the elements but I guessed my clothing was the reason for that. Sora suddenly pulled me down behind a rock.

"You have to survey, silly." Sora whispered to me. "Be on the lookout for anything that moves. We're the only ones out here, we and Cloud. So if you seen anything moving, that's bad and we need to hid, okay? And also look for your mate; he could be lying down or out here walking around."

"Okay," I whisper ask and we start on our way again, this time moving slower like a brisk walk instead of running. I scan every inch of the dark desert around me, searching desperately of anything at looks like Axel. I slow my pace to a walk to make sure I don't overlook a single grain of sand. Sora slows with me even though I can tell he wants to keep going faster. He looks around nervously and I can tell he's getting scared of walking around without the comfort of his father right there to step in, in case something bad happened. But I can't seem to care about the boy when he reminded me of the reason we are out here. I can't believe for a second I forgot this was a scenic tour or a game. Axel is out here, in the world somewhere. He could be anywhere. Xemnas could have him chained to a table, his insides on the outside. He could be fully awake, yet paralyzed by a stream of artificial drugs that keep him still while the dig around inside him, trying to find anything that would indicate he's not human. He could be dead…

The last thought makes me miss a step. And suddenly my thoughts are racing so fast it almost makes me sick, but the message is the same. Axel. Axel. Axel. Axel. My heart is pounding so loud I swear that it is echoing off of the random jagged edges of rocks that protruding from the sand. Sweat tries to escape my pores but the tight material of the mask keeps it in but I can feel it fight to be free. My breathing comes in short, sharp intakes and quick outtakes. I can see every grain of sand, every outline of every shadow. And then I see him and I stop so suddenly it takes Sora two whole seconds to notice I'm not next to him anymore.

'What-?" Sora starts to ask but I cut him off with the flick of my hand. He stills and tries to see what I see.

Across the field of sand, in between the rocks that made the line leading to Lithia, was a body crouched down. Anyone could have mistaken it as another rock but I knew that shape. I knew what Axel looked like squatting; he did it in front of me when he talked to me when I was on the couch watching the new, or when I was sitting on the bed putting my socks and shoes on. I know it, I know it's him. I take one step towards the clearing, and I'm harshly pulled back. Sora's hand flies up and covers my mouth before I have time to protest. Him other arm locks around my body like a steel trap, keeping me away from Axel.

"What are you doing? Stay by the rocks," Sora whispers at me.

"It's him," is all I say and I push Sora away from me. He falls away, caught off guard, and he lands on his butt in the sand. But I'm already gone. I'm running full speed across the sand. I never take my eyes off him. I'm halfway and I finally tear my eyes off of Axel to look back at Sora. He's not where I pushed him but disappearing fast the same way Cloud went. I look back at Axel. He hasn't moved. He doesn't even know I found him yet, the sand doesn't make a sound even those I'm running. He's facing the opposite way I'm coming. I try to use my voice to call out to him but my throat is so dry and this mask is so tight I can't even open my mouth. I don't think I'm breathing but I don't have time to think about it. Ten feet away, and he turns his head. He doesn't have time to do anything else because I tackle him to the ground.

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So there it is. Did you like it, hate it? Please tell me what you think by reviewing.

Next chapter will take me a little while to get posted since I only have two week left in this semester and my homework is piling up. But I'm halfway done with it already, so it shouldn't be too much longer.


	6. Chapter 6

This took me forever to write. I couldn't figure out how to write what I was thinking without making it sound choppy and short. But who knows, it might be regardless. Anyways, this is the last chapter. I will probably include an epilogue, which would be very short since I think it's obvious what happens next. Hope you enjoy this. Please leave me a review to tell me if you liked it or whatnot, and also tell me if you want a epilogue.

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It's so cold, I thought for the umpteenth time. I'm crouched down by some rocks in the desert, hoping I looked like part of the surrounding. I had just gotten to this location when the sun when down entirely. I could still see, but I wasn't sure what might be out here that could see me back, so I decided to stay for the night. Or until I got bored of that and continued looking for Roxas. There was a girl that came over to Sophie's the day I woke up from my long nap, looking for Xion. I was kind of mad that the girl didn't scary Xion like I had, but then again, the girl was prey anyway. Can't remember her name though. As soon as she said it, it reminded me of omelets and I wanted food. What can I say, I have a one track mind. So the omelet girl was saying how she lives on the edge of the side, so close to the desert that, that is all you can see out her back window. She said she saw a blonde boy run out to it the night of Xemnas' raid. That sure struck my interest. I made her tell me every single detail about her seeing that boy. Roxas is blonde! I said. Xion politely reminded me that there were a lot of blondes in the city but I wouldn't hear it. He was running in the general direction of the desert, around the same time as omelet girl seeing the blonde run into the desert.

The boy (and of course I use this term loosely because Cambiadors age differently so there's no way to tell the real age of someone by looking at them) was being followed by Xemnas goons. So was Roxas! Coincidence? I think not. I was ready to leave the house right then, but it was day, and I had to wait. Then Xion convinced me to wait another night, so that I was fully prepared for desert life, which included water and lightweight clothes that were really warm for night (lightweight so it was easy to carry in the day). So I waited. I probably wore a path in the floor at Sophie's but I don't care because I'm never going back. I'm finding Roxas and getting the hell out of Lithia. Maybe go to one of the places I was a historian in, maybe where Roxas and I first meet. Cambiadors were widely accepted there. Twilight Town it was called. Yeah, we'll go there. Roxas will think it's romantic!

And now, I'm hunched over, trying to make me thin frame take up as much space as I can that still looks rock-like. And my back is cramping, along with me feet. I so hate being in the same position for a long time. And it has been a long time…an hour. Ha, I'm going to die by morning if I don't move. And…I don't know. I just feel like if I stop thinking I'm going to go insane. Wait…what was that? I slowly, but sneakily look behind me, which entails me looking upside down and in between my arm and side. I heard sand shift. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, considering I'm in a desert but there is absolutely no wind, noise doesn't just happen. I scan the area as best as I can upside down. I see the tiniest movement, but it's just a black blur and it was far away. Maybe it was just a bird flying low or something. I straighten my head back up right but my heart is all jittery. I have to not panic or I'll change and that will just be another problem, especially if I shred all my clothes in the process. I take a couple deep breaths like Roxas had taught me.

My heart clutches at the thought of him. This is the third day…going on fourth day I've been without him. In our 83 years together, we've only been apart for seven days. And now, all of a sudden, three more days added to that total, just like that. That's a drastic increase. Those seven days where very spread out, like not quite once a decade. This of course doesn't count days I've sleep all day, or when he went shopping all day, or work days. I'm talking days when I woke up knowing I wouldn't see him that day due to something or other. Almost four days now. It's so hard without him this time. I don't even have something of his with his scent on it to comfort me. I noise pulls me out of my thoughts. I didn't catch it all because of my thoughts but it sounded like a voice. It was quite. My heart started beating erratically. I try talking some deep breaths to calm myself. I won't freak out until there's more confirmation that there is actually someone there. Xemnas has never, to my knowledge, followed someone past the rock. And I made sure I was well past that. Maybe it's another Cambiador, trying to find their own lover or trying to escape Lithia. Maybe if I just stay still, they won't notice me. If there is anyone. And there is someone! I can hear the should-be-soft swishes of the sand as feet glide over it in a run, but the noise is amplified by my fear. I can't move my body the fear has taken it over. I fight my fear and turn to look behind me at the fast approaching noise. And the darkness tackles me.

The darkness does a flying leap and form-tackles my crouched form. The arms of it constrict around me, holding my arms down. My breath escapes me as I hit the sand. And the darkness speaks.

"Axel!" The darkness yells. Wait, that's my Roxas' voice. What the fuck? I regain some of my wit and push the darkness off, knocking it off its feet and making it fall. Well, I guess it isn't really darkness so much as someone wearing all black. The person turns its head to me.

"What the fuck was that for?" It asks, in Roxas' voice again. It can't be, can it? What is he wearing?

"Roxas?" I ask, towering over the person, ready to pounce or run away, depending on their action.

"Yes, you fucking dimwit! How did you not-Oh shit my mask," It says. It (because I will not call it Roxas until it shows itself. It doesn't smell like him at all) struggles to take off the mask on its face. I stand there, shifting from foot to foot wondering what I should do. I'm really on edge right now. If feel like tackling the body that claims to be Roxas into the biggest hug I can possible give and kicking it and running while I have a chance. Finally it pulls off the mask, and my Roxas comes into view, hair all rustled and smiling up at me. I don't see anything else because I tackle him in said hug. My face finds his neck and I nuzzle him, practically purring from happiness. I got my Roxas back! I feel him pulling my face away from his neck and his lips crash against mine. I return the kiss feverishly. We continue to kiss until he draws back for air. He smiles at me and I swear his eyes are shining. Then suddenly he scowls and punches me in the arm.

"Ow, Roxas, that hurt! What was that for?" I ask, rubbing my arm where he hit me.

"For getting lost without me," he says, and then flings himself into my chest.

I hug him and close my eyes as we rock back and forth in the embrace. I'm so happy to have my Roxas back and just hold him. But I hear the sand shift a little ways away and I push Roxas off and behind me. A growl builds up in the back of my throat and my chest vibrates with it as I scan the area trying to find where the noise came from. I see two dark shadows creeping up the rock line coming towards us. The taller shadow pushes the littler one behind him and returns the growl.

"Cloud?" Roxas asks, peeking out from around me but I try keeping him back. He settles for punching me again and moves around me fully. "Is that you guys?"

The little shadow peeks around the bigger one. "Roxas you okay?" It asks.

"Yeah, Sora! I found my mate," Roxas says, pointing at me. I'm not sure what the correct thing to do in this situation so I settle on looking confused. The little shadow, who I assume is Sora moves and starts running towards Roxas in a glomp move but tall shallow, Cloud, grabs Sora by the back of the neck and halts that action.

"We need to get back to the Base if we want to carry on any sort of conversation. It is too dangerous here," Cloud says. "Come on." And with that he takes off in a sprint. It takes Sora a second to follow. And Roxas grabs my hand and we start running after the shadows. I feel really exposed being the only one not covered in all black. Somehow Roxas put his mask back on in the time big shadow started running and now. We sprint across the open area to the other side where there is another line of rocks, like the one we were just by. I'm out of shape because I'm panting by the time we get across the open area. We slow to a jog and finally stop in front a rock. Cloud pulls his mask off in one quick movement and pushes the rock in a certain area. A little piece slides away, revealing a scanner. The scanner runs over Cloud's eyes and flashes green before a big hunk of rock moves away, making room for a doorway. Cloud, Sora, Roxas, and I walk into the doorway and then Cloud touch a part of the wall and the door starts closing behind me. Down the hall, another rock is moving open. Everyone starts for the opening the rock makes and I trail behind, grabbing Roxas' hand. I pull on his hand until he's flush against me, which makes walking awkward but I don't care since my Roxas is with me again. I'm never letting him out of my sight again. We walk down some halls and take a couple turns but I don't really pay attention because I'm too busy rememorizing Roxas. He doesn't mean to mind, except when I make us stumble. After the fifth time that we stumble, he untwines himself from me but keeps hold of my hand. We end up in a large room which I assume is a cafeteria. Cloud and Sora stop at the first table and sit down on the same side. Roxas and I sit down opposite them. I stare at the two across from me, waiting for someone to break the silence. Luckily I don't have to wait long before Roxas does.

"Axel, this is Cloud and Sora," he says, gesturing to each. "Cloud, Sora, this is Axel, my mate."

"Hi," I say, feeling a little out of place. Cloud just looks at me stoically and Sora is all but jumping out of his seat. Guess he doesn't get to many visitors…where ever we are.

"Hi, I'm Sora! I know Roxas just said that but I wanted to introduce myself properly." He makes me smile at his friendliness.

"How did you come this far into the desert?" Cloud asks, pulling my attention away from Sora.

"Um…walking? I thought Roxas might be out here so I came," I ask, pulling Roxas closer to me when I mentioned him. But he pushes away from me, in a loving way of course. He's just odd about public displays of affection.

"I see. And did anyone see you or follow you? Does anyone know you were coming out here?" Cloud asks, sounding like an interrogator.

"Uh, no? And Xion and a omelet girl know I came into the desert," I say, uncomfortable with the way I was being asked questions. Not like I was expecting a big welcome party but I definitely wasn't expecting 20 questions from someone other than Roxas. And just as I was thinking about telling this Cloud guy off, Roxas turns to me.

"Relax, he just is trying to protect his family and this place. No one can know about it," Roxas said, taking hold of my hand for added comfort.

We all continue talking about how I got here and everything that happened before I came into the desert. Roxas shared his story with me and by the time he got done, we were all really tired, expect maybe Cloud because he remained expressionless the whole time. I suggested me and Roxas leaving in the morning but was quickly shot down. It would be too hot to leave during the day and we'd draw to much attention to ourselves if we tried. Cloud suggested we stay until the next night, and leave early and be on our way. We all agreed and parted ways.

I followed Roxas and Sora down a hallway. They made small talk while I trailed behind them. I didn't like this arrangement so I scooped Roxas up into my arms bridal style and decided to carry him the rest of the way.

"Axel! What are you doing?" Roxas asked, flailing around in my arms but I had a good grip on his so he couldn't get down.

"I've been away from you so long, I can't stand not touching you for one more minute," I say, rubbing my head into the crook of his neck as if to show my affection. He stopped struggling so much and just sighed, knowing I wasn't going to let him go. Sora apparently found us super cute because he "aw"ed at us.

"Aw! You guys are super cute!"Sora said. Ha! I said he thought that. I'm good. "Just be quite if you do anything tonight, haha, sound travels. He winked at us and ducked into a room and closed the door real fast. I looked down at Roxas and he was blushing like a madman.

"So where is our room?" I ask, innocently.

"There," he pointed to a room just down the hall, "and before you get any ideas, we are not having sex."

"Aw but Roxy, it's been almost four days! I've missed to," I whine, halfheartedly. I didn't really care about sex as long as I got to literally sleep with him. I walked into the room and lightly kicked the door shut. The room was completely dark but thanks to my awesome tiger eyes I could see the outline of the bed. I set Roxas onto the bed and take my shirt and pants off, while Roxas did the same, except he had more difficulty since his clothes were more skin tight. I could just barely see his outline struggling to get the shirt over his head.

Chuckling a little at his misfortune, I kneel on the bed and take the shirt from him and rip it off his body. Even in the dark I can see him blush. He's kind of old fashion and shy when it comes to intimacy. It makes me feel like there are butterflies in my stomach that I can still make him blush after 83 years of being together. He hides himself under the covers on the bed and I slip under them with him. I pull him to me and cuddle up to him. He seemed to melt into me and sighed and hugged me closer, mumbling something into my chest.

"What was that?" I ask, nudging him a little. He lifts his head up to look at me, unshed tears in his eyes.

"I said, I missed you, damn it," He says, sounding annoyed to try to cover up his real emotions by pretending he doesn't care about me so much. We both know we can't live without each other, so I don't know why he thinks he needs to hide it.

"I missed you too," I say, holding him closer, as if I let him go for a second he'll be gone. Roxas breathes in deeply, trying to will his tears away. "I love you, Roxas." And the first tear falls. I smile internally for being able to make his show his emotions, even if he won't admit them out loud. Roxas pulls away from me a bit, but just enough to punch me in the arm before hugging me close again. "I love you, Axel." I smile a bit and kiss him on the forehead before laying my head on the pillow and closing my eyes. The tension and stress seeped out of my body and I could tell I was finally going to get a good night's sleep, even with Roxas all tangled up in me.

* * *

I say 'aw' when I read about them cuddling. Did you like it? Want a epilogue? Please leave me a review.

Thanks for reading xoxox traybay


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